Our 10th Event!

Time sure does fly by! We held our tenth care packaging event on Saturday, April 14^th. Nineteen community members came together to prepare more than forty packages to be sent to soldiers overseas. One soldier recently thanked OTOH: “Your packages could not have arrived at more of a perfect time … It means so much to us to know that we are not forgotten out here, 9000 miles away from our home.” Another wrote, "Most of us have completed multiple tours during both of these wars, and it amazes us that people at home still care." We appreciate the support OTOH receives from the community; from donations of supplies and money to volunteering, spreading the word and referring soldiers. Since OTOH began in 2007, more than 510 care packages have been sent to troops overseas. Without the community's support, none of this would be possible. OTOH is sponsored by the North Orange Grange and Diemand Farm in Wendell.

Time flies...!!!

Although it seems unbelievable, our next care packaging event is coming up soon!! It feels like just yesterday that we had our ninth event and sent more than fifty care packages to soldiers overseas.

Volunteers after another successful event

Our tenth event will take place on Saturday, April 14th. We will be looking for volunteers to help on Saturday to prepare the care packages. If you are unable to help on that day, you can help in other ways as well. We are in great need of supplies to fill the care packages. Please use our Suggested Supply Donation list (found above in the Important Documents link) as a guide for needed supplies. Donations need to be submitted by Friday, April 6th. To recommend a soldier to receive a package at our next event, please fill out the Soldier Referral Form (found above in the Important Documents link) and send it to us. If you are interested in helping in these or other ways, please contact us to become involved in another great event!

Upcoming Event!

Our ninth event to prepare care packages will be held on Saturday, November 5th in North Orange. If you are interested in helping us with this event, we would love your support!  Below is a list of ways you can help, but if you think of another way you would like to support OTOH, please contact us.  We would love to hear your ideas!

Help Us Get the Word Out: Below you will find a link to our poster for the upcoming event. Please share this link with your friends. Also, you could print a copy and hang it up at your workplace, church or anywhere in your area that would be visible to help get the word out about this event.

November 2011 Event Poster

Monetary Donations: We are always looking for monetary donations to help cover the cost of shipping and purchasing supplies. If you would like to donate money, please make checks payable to Operation Touch of Home and mail to 93 Royalston Road, Orange, MA 01364-9633.

Supply Donations: Below you will find the link to a current list of needed supplies. Supplies can be dropped off at Diemand Farm in Wendell, Adams Animal Hospital in Athol or you can contact us to make other arrangements. The deadline for supply donations is October 28th.
Supply Donation List

Refer-A-Soldier: We are collecting current names and addresses of soldiers stationed overseas that would like to receive a care package. Below you will find a link to the form you will need to fill out to send us all the information we need. The deadline for addresses is October 28th.

Soldier Referral Form

Volunteer: We are in need of volunteers to help at the event. If you are interested in helping, please contact us by October 28th to be added to the list and to get the details about volunteering at the event.

Thank you for your continued support of Operation Touch of Home!!

Latest Adventures of OTOH

We recently attended the 2011 Massachusetts ESGR Bosslift to San Antonio, TX.

We arrived at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, MA early on a rainy Wednesday morning. Joining other community leaders and employers, we boarded the C-5B Galaxy and took-off for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.

Jess was able to sit in the cockpit jump-seat for take-off and part of the flight. Others on board were later able to tour the cargo area and cockpit during the flight.

After arriving at Lackland AFB, we were briefed by Col. Petersen, the Wing Commander of the Alamo Wing, and toured the C-5 Flight Training School. We then went on a walk-through tour of the entire C-5 aircraft.

With some free time to spare, we visited the Alamo, which was across the street from the Emily Morgan Hotel where we were staying.

We rejoined the group to attend a welcome reception at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. We were surprised and honored to receive the Seven Seals Award presented to us by the ESGR.

Following the reception, we enjoyed a stroll along the Riverwalk and took in the sights of the city.

The next morning, we visited the US Army Medical Department Center and School.

We then had a chance to see and handle the equipment used by the Marines of the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion.

We finished our tours by visiting the 71st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade. Following a briefing by Maj. McGowan, we viewed the Humvees and communication systems.

On a hot, sunny, Texas Thursday afternoon, we boarded the C-5B aircraft to head back to Westover ARB.






We feel this trip was very educational and a great opportunity to meet service personnel as well as employers of the Guard and Reserve at Westover ARB. Thank you to ESGR and those at Westover ARB who made this trip possible. We are grateful for being included in this wonderful opportunity.

Please check back soon for information on our upcoming care packaging event in November!

Recent Honors Received

Nominated by PFC Jennifer Christian, OTOH was recently presented with a Patriot Award for our continued work to support soldiers stationed overseas.  Shown below, Jessica Gale-Tanner accepts the award given by Earl Bonett, the Area Chairman for Employers of the Guard and Reserve.

Following this honor, OTOH was invited to participate in the Westover ARB 2011 Bosslift to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX.  We will join other community leaders and employers on a trip next month that will include tours of an Army surveillance brigade, a Naval Operations Support Center, a Marine Corps reconnaissance battalion and the U.S. Army Military Medical Museum.  We look forward to this great opportunity to learn more about those we continue to support.

...And Our Efforts Continue!

On Saturday, April 2^nd, twenty members of the community gathered to prepare care packages for soldiers stationed overseas for the eighth event of Operation Touch of Home (OTOH). One of these volunteers was Airman 1^st Class Andrew Staruk, a former recipient of an OTOH care package. More than forty care packages were prepared, bringing the total number sent by OTOH to more than 425 since 2007.

Each package included a pound of specially labeled coffee, “Operation Touch of Home Brew”, donated by Dean’s Beans of Orange.  Each package also included handwritten cards and drawings from students at Swift River School in New Salem. Volunteers wrote a personalized note for each soldier.

Shipping expenses were paid for by donations made by local businesses and members of the community. As a way to continue to raise money for these efforts, OTOH is currently selling raffle tickets for five seats to the May 16^th Red Sox vs. Orioles game at Fenway Park. Proceeds of the raffle will benefit OTOH and the Foundation for Community Justice. For information on where to purchase tickets, contact Anne of the Diemand Farm at (978) 544-3806. The drawing will be held on May 1^st. Tickets are $10 each.

Addresses Needed

Although the majority of the care packages that we send are prepared at our two main events in April and November; we collect names year-round.  We recently received names and addresses of five new soldiers overseas, for which care packages were sent to today.

A constant challenge we face is obtaining new addresses of soldiers deployed overseas as we are unable to obtain their contact information due to strict confidentiality restrictions.  Therefore, we rely heavily on the community to provide us with address referrals.  In preparation for our next care packaging event on Saturday, April 2nd, we are beginning to collect names and addresses.  If you know of a service member to refer, please download the Soldier Referral Form and return to us.  Any new addresses received will not receive a care package until our event in April.  This is to prevent an excess of items in the soldiers' limited space, as we have found this to be a problem in the past.

If you are in the North Quabbin area, be sure to see our featured article in the February edition of Quabbin Valley Voices in the My Turn column!  As always, thank you for your continued support of Operation Touch of Home!!

-Tessa & Jess